syntax and semantics of laisser in causative constructions

C. Raffy, M. Donazzan, Klaus von Heusinger
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Abstract

The French verb laisser (‘to let’) allows for two different syntactic constructions, an Exceptional Case Marking (ECM) construction and a Faire-Infinitive (FI) construction with a postverbal Causee, and for two different interpretations, authorize and not-intervene. According to previous studies (e.g. Kayne 1975), constructions are related to interpretations: the ECM can express intentionality, the FI cannot. In this paper, we explore a different hypothesis: the ECM construction is underspecified and allows for both interpretations, while the FI is restricted to the not-intervening interpretation. We provide empirical evidence from three distinct forced choice tasks in which participants had to match constructions and interpretations. The results reveal that, contrary to both early observations and our initial hypothesis, both constructions may allow for both interpretations, and variation depends less on the syntactic configuration than on semantic and pragmatic factors, namely on the lexical inferences triggered by the embedded verb and the authority relation between Causer and Causee expressed in the contexts.
因果关系结构中 laisser 的句法和语义
法语动词 laisser("让")有两种不同的句法结构,一种是特殊情况标记(ECM)结构,另一种是带有后置动词 Causee 的 Faire-Infinitive (FI)结构,还有两种不同的解释,即 authorize(授权)和 not-intervene(不干预)。根据以往的研究(如 Kayne 1975),结构与解释相关:ECM 可以表达意向性,FI 则不能。在本文中,我们探讨了一个不同的假设:ECM 结构未被充分规定,允许两种解释,而 FI 则仅限于不干预解释。我们从三个不同的强迫选择任务中提供了经验证据,在这些任务中,参与者必须匹配结构和解释。结果表明,与早期的观察和我们最初的假设相反,这两种结构都可能允许两种解释,而且变化更多地取决于语法结构而不是语义和语用因素,即嵌入动词所引发的词汇推断以及上下文中所表达的因果关系。
本文章由计算机程序翻译,如有差异,请以英文原文为准。
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